Sound bites 2015

It was aired on the GMA Saturday show CelebriTV but up to now, people have been asking how I was able to make Vin Diesel do the Pabebe Wave during the junket for his movie The Last Witch Hunter in L.A. Easy-breezy: I just told him that in the Philippines, there’s a new way of saying “I love you!” without articulating it, and showed him how. That was it.

• Vin Diesel (heard singing before the interview)

You’re a good singer.

“Oh, come on! My niece is a good singer, too. Singing is very popular in the Philippines. I know that because my sister-in-law (wife of his twin brother) is a Filipino. I know a lot about the Philippines from her. Filipinos are a very musical people. By the way, I had so much fun when I went to the Philippines (in 2014) for the premiere of my movie Fast & Furious 6. I remember that one of the best gifts that I got was a pair of boxing gloves from Manny Pacquiao. Very special to me, signed by Pacquiao.”

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• Madonna (during her Rebel Heart concert in L.A. on Oct. 27; in the audience was Katy Perry who also did the Pabebe Wave for Funfare readers)

“I love what I do and I want to share it with people like you.”

“It’s lonely at the top.”

“You don’t judge others who are different from you. That’s the most important aspect of being a rebel heart.”

No, I won’t let the Year of the Monkey take over without replaying more sound bites from the Year of the Sheep when The STAR was brought face-to-face with and/or connected by phone to overseas celebrities.

Here are more excerpts from the other exclusive interviews:

• Michael Bublé

How are you as a father?

“I think I’m the best father in the world. I’m pretty good as a father, hahaha!”

They say that every artist leaves a piece of his heart in every place that he performs in. Are you like that?

“Yes, I agree. Every place I perform in becomes a part of my life. That’s true. The Philippines has a special spot in my heart because it’s one of the places I performed in when I was starting in my career, among the first countries that I visited. You know, the longer it goes the stronger the relationship becomes.”

What was so memorable about your performance in Manila 10 years ago?

“I can tell you that it was chaotic. I remember it was electric, it was exciting. The audience was very passionate in its reaction.”

How do you keep yourself at the top?

“I just continue learning more and trying to be better. It’s when you stop caring that you get left behind. I care so much about my career. I care so much about my audience. I care so much about giving them their money’s worth. I care about growing as an artist. If you think that just because people buy your records the first time, they will buy more of your records, you are wrong. People can forget you and forget you fast. So you have to keep on improving yourself.”

* * *

• Lee Min Ho

What do you find attractive about your role in Gangnam  Blues (his first action starrer)?

“I thought that Kim Jong-Dee was the kind of character that I could portray convincingly when I got older. I’ve been waiting and searching for a role like it. I’m happy that I found it. I was lucky to have contacted director Yoo Ha so I was able to play the role.”

How is Gangnam Blues different from your movies?

“Gangnam Blues is not the kind of movie with Kung Fu or Taekwondo so I just really needed to have hard-core training. But I did get some basic training for the action scenes. The story of this movie is about the 1970s in Korea which was not industrialized at that time. Fans in the Philippines know me in romance stories in my TV shows but I’m sure they will be happy to see me in a quite different genre. I’m proud of this movie and I hope my fans in the Philippines will be proud of me. I’m really pleased to show my side as an actor to the Filipino audience.”

* * *

• Patricia Arquette (2015 Best Supporting Actress, Boyhood)

What is your take on social media being used for evil purposes like what is tackled in your TV show CSI?

“It’s pretty terrifying. I mean, if you look at war being launched on social media. It’s scary, isn’t it? Imagine what devices they are capable of using. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to do the show because I feel like we all have technology in our lives but we really don’t understand what’s going on with it, or what it’s capable of. And I thought that I am really interested in learning about that. Every time I get a script for CSI, it’s pretty terrifying when I read it.”

* * *

• Theo James (star of Insurgent)    

Being a Pacquiao fan, you will be in Las Vegas to watch Pacquiao’s fight with Mayweather (on May 2), right?

“Yes, I love Pacquiao. Unfortunately, I can’t be in Las Vegas because I will be at a friend’s wedding. But I will be watching it on TV. I am so disappointed that I can’t be in Las Vegas to watch it personally.”

Would you like to play Pacquiao in a movie?

“Hahahaha!!! I don’t think that will ever happen. He’s a legend and I’m just a huge, huge Pacquiao fan. He’s an incredible boxer, a great personality.”

* * *

• Shailene Woodley (star of Insurgent)

How has the success of Divergent (first of the trilogy) changed your life?

“Amazingly enough, my life hasn’t changed much at all. I’m busier and the rest of my life is the same. Oh yes, one of the beautiful things about doing a big movie (like the Divergent franchise) is that you enjoy the luxury of helping create smaller films that otherwise wouldn’t be able to get financed in some ways.”

Your co-star Ansel Elgort played your lover in The Fault in Our Stars. In the Divergent franchise, he plays your brother.

“That’s the beauty of being an actor. You get to play varied roles. And the beauty about working with Ansel is that we have a wonderful rapport with each other and a natural compatibility. There’s a feeling of safety between us.”

* * *

• Ansel Elgort (star of the Divergent franchise)

How much more or much less privacy you have left?

“I have privacy when I close the door of my house, you know what I mean? So I feel like I can still remain myself, the real me.”

How much daring can you be for a role?

“As daring as I can be. I have a long way to go. I’m turning only 21. Hopefully, I want to go on acting until I am 80.”

* * *

• Idina Menzel

You sing Let It Go (Oscar Best Song, written by Filipino Robert Lopez with his wife Kristen Anderson) with so much feeling. How do you relate to the song?

“It’s a great song written for the character (Elsa in Frozen). It has a great message. You know, anytime you can sing something that’s really…it comes from your heart. And here’s a song that reminds you something you need to learn in life, you know. Let It Go teaches me every day that I just need to, you know, embrace the things inside me that make me different and special and really learn to celebrate that.”

* * *

• Rachelle Ann Go

Which is more challenging, playing Gigi (in Miss Saigon) or Fantine (in Les Miserables)?

“Gigi is relatively a smaller role. She appears in the first part of Miss Saigon, siguro mga one-fourth lang of the musical. Si Fantine, andyan siya first 30 minutes of the show, then she joins the ensemble and appears as a ghost in the last part, so mas maraming scenes, mas mabigat kaya nababaliw ako sa character. Ang emotion ko parang roller-coaster. Medyo mahirap pero masarap.”

What aspects of the characters Gigi and Fantine do you identify with?

“I guess ‘yung mga pinagdaanan nila. As a woman, I can identify with their being strong even if deep inside, you know, they also get hurt. But that’s it. They are just being strong sa lahat ng nangyayari sa buhay nila.”

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